Friday, February 25, 2011

Streaming

Okay...here is a fun trick to save some money on your cable bill....

We have basic cable at our house which gives us painfully few television channels to watch. This is not a really big deal in that television is not a huge priority for our family but my husband and I do enjoy relaxing in front of the tele in the evening. We decided against spending any more on our cable bill and looked for alternative ways to enjoy programming at a minimal cost.

This is what we did...and believe me I am not tech savvy!

We invested in an inexpensive Blu-Ray player. I believe we spent about $90 at Best Buy. The trick was to find one that had wi-fi enabled and able to stream Netflix. We had all ready subscribed to a basic Netflix account for about $10 a month. For this price we receive one dvd in the mail at a time and have unlimited streaming from their selection of "watch now" videos. These include movies, documentaries and TV shows.

A side note of information: Blu-ray players also play DVD's and CD's.

Once we had the Blu-Ray player successfully hooked up through the Wi-Fi (fairly easy instructions through player....did it with remote on the TV) we were able to watch a vast quantity of movies and shows at the push of a button. The other wonderful thing is that we are also able to stream Pandora radio  through the television. Those of you who are not familiar with Pandora should really check it out. You make up your own radio station based on the music you love. You can even create stations that play children's music. It is a great alternative to the television!

Since our Blu-Ray player was Wi-Fi enabled we hooked it up through our wireless router. If you do not have one of these you can pick up a relatively inexpensive one online or in-stores. Probably around $40. We all ready had a wireless router for our laptop, some of you may even have one for your Wii.

Some other hints:
You can stream Netflix and Pandora through your Wii
You can buy a Roku Box or Apple TV which will essentially do the same as the Blu-Ray player.

There are lots of possibilities out there so you need to find the one that is best for you.
Hope some of you find this helpful!!!!!


2 comments:

  1. Thanks for following, I am now following back. Cute blog! : )

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  2. Good tips.

    Following from Bloggy Moms. Follow me at:

    A Joyful Life
    http://ajoy-fullife.blogspot.com

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